Why The Favourite Will Win Best Picture
'Tis the week before the Oscars, and 8 films are ramping up their campaigns in a last-minute push for the top prize of them all, Best Picture. The biggest award has the potential to be either one of the most anticlimactic or most surprising result in recent years. The former is true, because really only a few films have won any of the top prizes on the awards circuit, and one of those [Alfonso Cuarón's Roma] is a notable step ahead in the sweepstakes. However, many have called this one of the most wide-open Best Picture races in recent memory. Not only is no contender is a traditional winner, none is without controversy; those facts, as well as the Oscars' less predictable preferential voting system means that no nominee can be counted out of the race. Birdman's and Spotlight's upsets in 2015 and 2016, and Moonlight's stunner in 2017 dared us to expect the unexpected, so we're here to give fans of all 8 nominated films reason to believe they might win the top honors on Sunday night.
The Favourite, which is tied for the most nominations at this year’s Academy Awards is an entirely unconventional candidate with the veneer of a conventional one. If you went into seeing the film without any knowledge of the director and/or style, you’d be forgiven if you thought what you were about to watch was pure Oscar bait. It’s a British period piece, with a much-acclaimed (and mostly British) cast and director. But lest you think you are about to watch a King’s Speech redux, the first scene pretty much informs you that the opposite is true.
Yorgos Lanthimos’ The Favourite is one of the most original, unexpected successes of the year, dressing a dramatic period piece with a dramatic storyline of grief and rivalry with heavy doses of wicked dark comedy. It’s true to the Greek director’s form, but likely dissimilar from anything the Academy has seen in terms of Best Picture-nominated movies. As much as its break from norms might seem a mark against the likelihood of it winning, the film’s uniqueness may turn out to be one of the strongest arguments in support. Ever since Birdman’s breakthrough in 2015, dark and/or cynical comedies have been slightly more en vogue with the Oscars, with The Big Short, Get Out, and 3 Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri all genuine contenders for top honors in the last three years.
Perhaps its strongest feature as a nominee, however, is how women completely dominate The Favourite. In a year where controversies abound among nominees with issues like race and sexuality, one concern perhaps overlooked is how male-heavy most of the nominated films are this season. The Favourite is one of just two Best Picture nominees that puts women completely at the forefront, with the story revolving almost entirely around three female characters. Such is the nature of the film that if any one of the three actresses for those characters were less than brilliant, it may fall apart. It’s a good thing for all involved then, that Olivia Colman, Rachel Weisz, and Emma Stone are nothing short of amazing in their roles, particularly Colman, whose traumatized, insecure Queen demands you watch her every moment.
It’s a recipe that has worked for nearly audiences this year, as The Favourite was one of the best-reviewed films of the year, and has been an awards circuit mainstay. It won Best Film at the British Independent Film awards, and was named the American Film Institute’s Movie of the Year. Though losing to Roma in the oft-predictive BAFTAs was a bit of an upset, the film was still that show’s biggest winner on the night, with 7 trophies. Might Sunday be the time for the movie to earn its most prestigious hardware of all?